Opening Your Full Heart to Jesus
- Michael Kientz
- Jan 19
- 4 min read
When we talk about inviting Jesus into your heart, we are not talking about your physical heart. (There isn't much room in there!) We are talking about something deeper and more meaningful: your spiritual heart.
Understanding what the spiritual heart is, and how Jesus interacts with it, can completely change how you see faith, worship, and your daily life.
What Is the Spiritual Heart?
Your spiritual heart is where you:
Feel love and hate, hope and fear
Discern right from wrong
Hold the things and people that matter most to you
Hear from God (if you listen carefully)
Because it is so important, Scripture often talks about guarding your heart. This is solid wisdom, but sometimes we even guard our hearts from God.
Think of your spiritual heart as having many rooms. There's a room for whatever is important to you: for your family, your friends and your hopes and dreams. There are also rooms for how you spend your time, how you spend your money, the choices you make, and how you use your talents. And there are rooms in darker corners where you store your pains, your fears and your hates, if you have them.
The First Door of the Heart: Worship
Before Jesus comes into any other part of our lives, He invites us to open the Worship door of our spiritual heart.
Everyone worships something.
Some people worship gods from other religions. Others worship money, success, fame, sports, relationships, or anything else that gives them a sense of meaning or worth. But none of these things can give you the extraordinary life God desires for you, and none of them can lead you into eternal life with Him.
The only One truly worthy of worship is the one true God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
So Jesus knocks on this door first.
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20)
Eating with someone in first-century Hebrew culture meant you had a relationship with that person. Jesus wants a relationship with you, and He knocks patiently on the Worship door of your heart until you invite Him in.
When you open the Worship door, you begin a real relationship with Jesus, with God the Father, and with the Holy Spirit. God is now with you in both the joyful moments of your life and the painful ones. Your sins are forgiven, and you receive the promise of eternal life (starting now!) with God.
That alone is life-changing. But Jesus doesn't stop there.
Jesus Knocks on Every Door of Your Heart
After entering your life, Jesus begins gently knocking on other doors inside your spiritual heart. He wants to be invited into every part of who you are.
The Door of Hopes
Some doors are easy to open. Many people gladly invite Jesus into their hopes and dreams, because they want His help achieving them. When you open this door to Jesus, He may reshape those hopes. He might show you that some dreams are not good for you, or He may give you bigger and better hopes than you ever imagined.
The Door of Loves
Jesus also knocks on the door of what you love. When you invite Him in, He may show you that some things you love are unhealthy or misplaced. At the same time, He deepens your ability to love what is truly good, beautiful, and life-giving.
The Door of Talents
Jesus wants to be Lord over your talents and abilities. After all, He gave them to you. He doesn't want them used only to make you look impressive. When you invite Jesus into this part of your heart, He teaches you how to use your gifts to build God’s Kingdom and bless others.
The Door of Friends
Jesus may knock on the door that represents your friendships. He understands that relationships matter deeply, and He also knows that some friendships can pull you away from who God created you to be. If you trust Him with this door, Jesus helps you find relationships that bring life, encouragement, and blessing.
The Door of Fears
Some doors are harder to open. Fear is a dark place, and Scripture repeatedly tells us not to be afraid, even though God knows how hard that is. When you invite Jesus into your fears, He brings in light, faith, and hope. Over time, fear begins to shrink as trust in His love for you and ability to lead you grows.
The Doors of Pain and Hate
Perhaps the hardest doors to open are the ones where you store your pain and hate. Every person carries wounds from life, but some hurts go deep. You may be ashamed of what happened to you or afraid that opening these doors will hurt even more. You may be unwilling to forgive the person who hurt you. But Jesus is gentle and wise. He knows exactly how to meet you in these dark places. When you invite Him into your pain, He shows you that He was present even in the darkest moments. What hurt you also hurt Him, and He deeply desires to bring healing.
Opening Your Full Heart to Jesus
Every time you open another door in your heart, Jesus enters and transforms that space. He removes what is harmful and replaces it with what brings life. Trust grows room by room.
Jesus’ deepest desire is to be Lord of your whole heart. He knows that only then will you experience the fullest life possible, both now and into eternity.
Opening your full heart to Jesus takes time and courage. You have an enemy who tries to convince you to keep some doors tightly shut and locked. He tempts you to believe that you can't trust Jesus with your whole heart, but Jesus never stops knocking. He is patient, and He won't give up.
If some doors feel especially hard to open, it can help to get counsel from someone wise who can support you as you learn to trust Jesus more deeply. Consider meeting with a therapist, a spiritual director or a trusted and godly friend.
Jesus' promise is simple and powerful: when you open your heart to Him, He brings life, healing, freedom, and love beyond anything else this world can offer.
He's knocking on some door in your heart today. Will you answer?
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